A probabilistic model of the tensile strength of a UD flax-fabric-reinforced polymer composite

摘要

In order to fully realize the efficiency of bast fibers or their yarns as reinforcement of polymer composites, they should be aligned. Tensile strength of such composites in the direction of reinforcement has been found to exhibit size effect commensurable with that of unidirectionally reinforced (UD) composites with inorganic fibers, necessitating a probabilistic modeling approach. Strength distribution of a polymer matrix composite reinforced with aligned twisted bast fiber yarns is considered allowing for the strength scatter of elementary fibers, the presence of defects in the form of adjacent fiber breaks, and twist of the yarns. The model is applied to predicting the strength of flax/acrylated epoxidized soy oil resin composite specimens of different sizes. The theoretical prediction is found to be in a reasonable agreement with strength test results. POLYM. COMPOS., 39:2101-2109, 2018. (c) 2016 Society of Plastics Engineers